Solid 6: cut to four

Had they only gotten to a point where the Phantoms had pulled Cal Heeter, you have to figure Bridgeport needed to get Ty Wishart on the ice.

Yeah, there’s the whole “protecting a lead” thing, but there’s also the empty-net goal possibility. The man was one lit lamp away from the Gordie Howe.

He had the second assist on both David Ullstrom goals, the lone assist on Brock Nelson’s goal and a first-period fight with Zack FitzGerald. That’s along with helping out a perfect penalty kill.

“It was such a complete game for him. I’m proud,” Scott Pellerin said. “He got the Player of the Game in our locker room tonight. It shows you the progression he’s had the last little stretch. He and Dono (Matt Donovan) have really grown well together. … He made some good first passes.”

Wishart said he wasn’t happy about a hit FitzGerald put on Strome. He said he knows FitzGerald pretty well; they had a quick little scrap, which started a parade to the penalty box, though nobody scored on 11 tries.

Adirondack had seven of the 11. Bridgeport hung in, blocked shots, got in lanes. Rick DiPietro, playing a full game back-to-back nights for the first time down here, made some huge saves late.

After Saturday night’s seething, they got two points they needed.

….

Hershey’s loss to Wilkes-Barre keeps the Bears at 75 points; Bridgeport is one of three teams that are four points behind Hershey and Norfolk. (Those two Manchester-Hershey games are going to make things difficult for everybody else, aren’t they? Four points that have to go somewhere; two others that could.) The Sound Tigers are technically 11th, with 28 real wins, while Manchester has 30 and Albany (12 shootout losses! 15 ties!) has 26.

Scott Mayfield’s in the house. You may’ve heard him with Phil this evening; I talked to him a bit for something that’ll probably run in the paper Tuesday. Pellerin said it’s to be determined whether he’ll play Tuesday.

The other fight by a defenseman: Nathan McIver’s 25th fighting major, one behind his cousin’s team record of this season, one ahead of Graham Belak’s old team record. Multiple penalties to defensemen helped Andrey Pedan get some PK time.

Scary stuff with Eric Wellwood. All indications are he cut himself, stumbling on the penalty kill. Had surgery tonight; more expected tomorrow. Amazing. Terry Murray invoked Erik Karlsson, saying we’ve got to do more to protect against these kinds of injuries; Kevlar protection, what have you. Makes sense. Edit: Danny Syvret tweeted a picture from the dressing room. It’s not really graphic, but it might not be for the squeamish, either, so with that warning, look if you’d like.

Springfield clinched the Northeast Division today.

With thanks to Bob Rotruck, through some convoluted second-level stuff, the loss eliminated Adirondack. The Phantoms can get to 75 points, same as Hershey and Norfolk, but the only way Hershey stays there is if it loses to Manchester twice in regulation, and then Manchester reaches at least 75, too, with the tiebreaker over pretty much everybody.

Mike G. Morreale on E.J. McGuire, two years after his passing.

Ken Levine on time we’ll never get back. (I assume “reading this” is on your list.) The ones I always think about are time spent waiting through “record your message at the tone” on voicemails (really? gee, thanks; it’s 2013), and locking and unlocking cell phones (probably easier and shorter to apologize for the pocket dials).

Meanwhile, blogging may be a bit sporadic over the next few days. Will keep you posted.

Michael Fornabaio